Short Fuse

Short Fuse Commentary: Art and 9/11

September 11, 2012
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What percentage art? What percentage terrorist attack?

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Short Fuse: Russian Dissident Garry Kasparov — Going to Jail for Pussy Riot

August 21, 2012
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Unlike the rock star supporters of Pussy Riot, Garry Kasparov lives in Moscow, which means, given how the Putin regime has dealt with critics, he has a lot more to fear than, say, Madonna, who nevertheless should be applauded for speaking out at her Moscow concert.

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Short Fuse Film Review: Dissident Artist Ai Weiwei — The Anti-Mao

August 11, 2012
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Dissident artist Ai Weiwei speaks for an alternate China, another possibility for it. In a sense, he is the anti-Mao. Alison Klayman’s “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” is an essential introduction to his work to date.

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Short Fuse Commentary: Josiah McElheny and CERN — Researching the Possibilities

August 8, 2012
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Art and science rebuffed each other in this show. Visitors are unlikely to leave with either a greater understanding of cosmology or of Josiah McElheny’s art.

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Short Fuse Book Review: Fifty Shades of Vlad

July 24, 2012
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As monster fiction, “Vlad” has hints, now and then, of what “Talulla Rising” doesn’t aspire to. In the former, Carlos Fuentes peels back the familiar to provide glimpses of the genuinely horrific.

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Short Fuse Commentary: The Skillful Supernaturalism of Glen Duncan

July 4, 2012
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Here you have it: Werewolves are horny, vamps merely thirsty. This, to be sure, is material to work with, as novelist Glen Duncan does. But I can’t help thinking about great nineteenth-century novels of involuntary transformation.

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Short Fuse Film Commentary: Hello “Prometheus” — Cthulhu Calling

June 24, 2012
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There have been over twenty movie adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft stories, all nearly forgotten. And yet Lovecraft’s sensibility serves as a guide to much of today’s cinema.

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Book Review: The Adventurous Stories of Etgar Keret — Home Invasion, Israeli Style

April 27, 2012
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The stories of Israeli writer Etgar Keret are diverse, one-of-a-kind safety nets, spun out of humor, tenderness and wild imaginings.

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Short Fuse: Basketball, “The Hunger Games,” and Postmodernism

April 10, 2012
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What struck me about “Hunger Games” is that the rules change in Katniss Everdeen’s battle to survive against others like her, including others she likes, might even love.

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Short Fuse: On Pesach

April 6, 2012
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A new Haggadah has recently been published, the “New American Haggadah,” edited by Jonathan Safran Foer and translated by Nathan Englander. It’s getting a lot of attention and some criticism from “elders.” But maybe the Haggadah is beside the point. . .

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